GREENVILLE – If all it took to be a college football offensive lineman was the ability to block the man in front of you, then Larry Williams would be the starting left guard for East Carolina in its season-opening game against N.C. Central on Saturday.

Because there’s more to the position than just physical domination, Williams isn’t even listed on the Pirates’ two-deep roster.

Chances are he’ll get onto the field for a few snaps in a reserve capacity, especially if the weather stays hot. But until Williams’ understanding of the mental side of the game comes close to catching up with his vast athletic ability, the redshirt freshman from Laney High will have to wait his turn to get onto the field on a regular basis.

“A big part of being an offensive lineman is being able to think on the run,” ECU offensive line coach Brandon Jones said. “If you don’t have that ability, it doesn’t matter how physically talented you are. You’re always going to be a step behind.

“That’s where Larry is right now. Physically, he’s the best we have. We’re constantly working with him to speed up his thought process.”

Larry Williams led Laney to the state 4AA playoffs in both his junior and senior seasons

The arrival of top junior college transfer Quincy McKinney has allowed Jones to be more patient with Williams than he might otherwise have been. The last thing he wants to do is damage the 6-foot-4, 337-pound teenagers’ confidence by throwing him into a primary role before he’s ready.

To his credit, Williams has been receptive to both the coaching and the step back from the first team coming out of spring practice to working primarily with the twos and threes during preseason camp.

Williams has also gone out of his way to seek out the help of veteran teammates, particularly center C.J. Struyk, to help improve on learning the calls and eliminating the split second of hesitation that could be the difference between quarterback Shane Carden getting a pass off and getting clobbered.

According to head coach Ruffin McNeill, Williams has made great strides in that area over the past three weeks. But as Williams is quick to point out, he’s still far from a finished product.

“I feel like I can do some pretty good things, but as the coaches can tell you I can always get better,” he said. “The most difficult part is learning to react on the field, because there’s a lot of formation shifts, linebackers moving to different levels of the field and sometimes linemen in front of you moving to different fronts. It’s just being able to read and react. It’s a lot more complicated than high school.”

Williams was a first-team All-Mideastern Conference selection as a two-way performer while leading Laney to the state 4AA playoffs in both his junior and senior seasons.

The key to becoming more comfortable with the transition to the college game is repetition, and Williams is getting his share of them at practice. Because he’s a three-star prospect with a bench press of 365 pounds and an incredibly fast 40-time of 4.9 for a man his size, Williams is also going to see some game action, too.

Jones

“If you watch him work out, if you watch him run, I promise you we have no one like him,” position coach Jones said. “His deal is the calls and confidence. Sometimes that takes longer to develop. Larry is still only 19 years old right now. He might be a year or so off.”

Considering the effort he’s already put in and the improvement he continues to make in the mental aspects of the game, his teammate Struyk said it might not take that long for Williams to be back with the starters.

“It’s up to Larry how good he wants to be,” Struyk said, “because he has the ability to be great.”